Sa previous post ko, I shared my overemployment journey.

Sa unang sabak ko sa pagiging overemployed, nilakasan ko lang ang loob ko sa pagtanggap ng mga trabaho kahit alam kong mag-ooverlap sila. Ikekwento ko kung paano ko na-handle ang tatlong magkakasabay na trabaho, at mga learnings na natutunan ko pagkatapos kong maging overemployed.

Pag usapan muna natin ang working hours ko:

• J1 – 8 hours a day, starting at 7am. Flexible hours basta mabuo ko ang required hours.
• J2 – 1pm to 10pm pero walang ginagawa. I spent 3 hours per week at most dito.
• J3 – heavy sa hapon. Usually starts at 2pm until 6pm. Kapag may meetings ako dito ng hapon, sinasantabi ko muna si J1 to work on J3, and then I just resume J1 after 6pm.

Now on to the HOWS.

How #1: Mataas na ang positions na nakuha ko kaya may control na ako sa schedule ko. 

With a high position comes trust and credibility, kaya kapag sinabi kong hindi ako available for a meeting, hindi na ako inuusisa kung bakit at anong meeting ang kasabay ng nirerequest nilang call.

How #2: I planned my work in advance. 

Dahil may considerable influence ako sa mga gagawin ng team ko, I plan my work every 2 weeks. When I say I plan my work, this means I plan my output. I identified yung mga high priority items na makita dapat ng team at ng manager ko.

How #3: I don’t go for jobs na may time tracker.

My J1 had a time tracker called Time Doctor (TD). Nag tatake si TD ng screenshots randomly every 10 minutes, and kapag 1 minute kang idle, it stops recording the time. I was paid hourly with J1 kaya mahalaga ang bawat minute na narerecord sa TD. Imagine nyo lang na kapag mag-ccr ako during work hours, nagmamadali ako kasi baka mag off yung TD. Gosh! After this, hindi na ulit ako tumanggap ng jobs na may time tracker. Automatic reject.

How #4: I’m really good at my job.

I may sound like I’m bragging but this really is the case. Matagal ko nang ginagawa ang trabaho ko kaya madali na lang sa’kin. This is why people say in the overemployment community that overemployment is not for entry-level roles. Bukod sa dapat gamay mo na yung trabaho at industry mo, dapat may self-confidence ka to decline meetings, great communication skills to get to the point during meetings without offending anyone, and good time management skills. 

How #5: I determine if kailangan talagang gawin ang isang task.

Nagkaroon ako ng boss na mahilig lang magpagawa ng busywork na walang katuturan. Yung tipong kahit hindi mo gawin ay okay lang kasi makakalimutan rin nya at hindi nya hihingin yung result, which means hindi naman talaga yun importante. Meron rin akong boss na kung ano-anong metrics ang hinihingi sa’kin na pointless naman. I ask my boss pointed questions to identify what it is they really want to get kasi most of the time, yung unnecessary metrics or information na hinihingi nila will not lead them to the answer that they want and that’s where I come in.

Salary Reveal

I promised a salary reveal. Itong set ng 3Js ang pinakamalaki kong take home pay ever since. Until now, hindi pa rin natatapatan ng mga Js ko itong total take-home pay ko during what I call my Overemployment Phase 1 era. 

Job 1:

My J1 was an independent contractor position. This means wala akong company or government-mandated benefits, no work no pay rin ako. The company, which was a startup, is not registered here in the Philippines. I’m paid hourly and required to render 80 hours every 2 weeks. So pwedeng Monday 3 hours lang, and then sa ibang araw ko bunuin yung remaining 5 hours. If I complete my 80 hours every 2 weeks, my monthly salary is P150,000. I take home the whole amount. This is the most demanding role out of the 3.

Job 2: 

My J2 was a normal employment with a registered company here in the Philippines. May benefits ako dito like HMO and paid leaves, and of course the government-mandated benefits. My monthly gross income is P150,000 and my monthly net income is P113,500. Ito ang pinaka chill na job and I was only allocating around 3 hours per week dito. Most of the time wala kaming ginagawa and I believe the team was actually overstaffed.

Job 3:

My J3 was similar to J1, but only part-time. This was not as demanding as J1, and the higher management was more lenient. I genuinely enjoyed my work here. It was a startup with a lot of process-related problems. My monthly salary here was P55,000. 

This brings my total to P318,500 monthly net salary. Na-sustain ko ito for 1.5 years until I lost all of them, the story of which will be in another blog post. I bought a house for my parents, and I bought a house for myself na pinarentahan ko muna for a year until I eventually moved in. I also bought myself a secondhand car in cash, and I had a hefty emergency fund. 

This era truly was my working life’s golden age, and I’m still hoping that I can replicate the situation again.